A mile or so before they reached Oxford, they
stopped the car on top of a hill from which they could see the whole of the city
spread out before them. The spires and the domes, the college walls and towers
looked as peaceful as when they were first built, hundreds of years
ago. When they drove down, over the River Thames and into the
city centre, they found it was not so peaceful after all! The main streets were
packed with traffic, cars, lorries, coaches full of tourists and the bicycles
which the students use to get about. But as soon as they had managed to park the
car and get away from the roaring traffic, they discovered a completely
different world. Narrow cobbled streets which had hardly changed since the
Middle Ages ran between the high college walls of grey or yellow stone. Inside
the great double gates of each college they found quiet squares of grass,
surrounded by the chapel, the library, the dining-hall and the rooms where the
students and teachers live. Many colleges had the most beautiful gardens where
one could sit and read, talk, work or dream. Most of the
students, or undergraduates, wore informal clothes: sports coats, or pullovers,
and slacks. But some of them were wearing their black gowns. George explained
that they had to wear these when going to lectures or to their weekly meeting
with their tutor, or teacher. Tom and Anne were very surprised to see a few
young men dressed in formal black suits, with ties, gowns and scholars’ caps.
Anne asked whatever they were doing, wearing evening dress in the morning!
George laughed and said that this was the official dress for taking
examinations, many of which were held in June. In one college,
they visited the dining-hall. It was enormous with a high roof held up by great
wooden beams with windows of stained glass as in a church, and long heavy tables
and benches. At one end was the "High Table", which is usually reserved for the
Head of the college and the teachers. It really was high, raised on a wooden
platform above the level of the rest of the hall. An undergraduate may sit at
the High Table once on the day when he has passed all his examinations, takes
his degrees and becomes a graduate. George told Tom and Anne students wore black gowns ______.
A. only when they were on their way to lectures
B. when meeting with their tutor once a week
C. on their way to the library
D. when they were in the chapel